Malcolm Turnbull has delivered a moving tribute to Robert Hughes in the House of Representatives today.

Hughes, writer and art critic, died on August 6, aged 74.

Turnbull’s wife, Lucy, was Hughes’s niece. Hughes’s brother, Tom, the Sydney barrister and a former Liberal member of the House (1963-72), was in the public gallery with his wife during the condolence motion.

Listen to Turnbull’s tribute (13m)

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Text of Malcolm Turnbull’s tribute to Robert Hughes in the House of Representatives.

Mr TURNBULL (Wentworth) (14:21): Can I thank, on behalf of Bob’s family, the very generous words of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the minister. Bob would have been very chuffed to hear them, if a little bemused. He was the youngest of four. His brother Tom who is with us today with his wife, Chrissie, Lucy’s father, the elder by 15 years, became in effect in loco parentis after Bob’s father, Geoffrey, died when he was only 12.

Bob’s father, Geoffrey, was a hero, and not just to his youngest son. He had been a fighter ace in the First World War and among his many victories had shot down no less than Lothar von Richthofen, the brother of the Red Baron himself.

The Hughes family were staunch and pious Catholics. Bob’s great-grandfather, John, had made a fortune, but as Bob often lamented, had given away most of it in building churches and schools. John had established the Order of the Sacred Heart in Australia, his daughters had become nuns and the Hughes family home, Kincoppal, had become a convent and a school. If John Hughes was not in heaven, Bob often said, God didn’t know the value of money. [Read more…]

Harry Jenkins, the Labor member for Scullin and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, has announced that he will retire from parliament at the next election.

Jenkins has represented Scullin since 1986 and is currently the longest-serving Labor member. He succeeded his father, Dr. Harry Jenkins, in the electorate which has been represented by the Jenkins family since 1969.

Following the election of the Rudd government, Jenkins served as Speaker of the House from February 2008 until November 24, 2011. His resignation allowed the government to install Peter Slipper as Speaker and increase its majority on the floor of the House.

Scullin is in Melbourne’s north-east suburbs. It covers the suburbs of Bundoora, Diamond Creek, Plenty, Thomastown, Lalor, Epping, Mill Park, South Morang, Watsonia North and Yarrambat.

At the 2010 election, Jenkins retained Scullin with a 1.40% swing towards the ALP, 62.12% of the primary vote and 70.85% of the two-party-preferred vote.

Sharon Grierson, the Labor member for Newcastle in the House of Representatives, has announced that she will not contest the next election.

The former teacher and school principal has held the New South Wales electorate for four elections since 2001.

She is the second Labor member of the House to reveal retirement plans ahead of an election the ALP is expected to lose in a landslide. Steve Gibbons, the member for Bendigo since 1998, announced his departure in August last year.

Grierson polled 47.89% of the primary vote in 2010. After preferences, she was elected with 62.49% of the two-party-preferred vote, a swing against her of 3.42% from the 2007 election.

Newcastle has been held exclusively by the ALP since 1901. Grierson is only the fifth member to hold the seat.

Following newspaper reports yesterday of alleged misuse of CabCharge dockets and a sexual harassment claim, Peter Slipper has stood aside as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

With Slipper in the Speaker’s chair, the Gillard government has been able to govern with a majority of 76-73 on the floor of the House. If Slipper has not resumed his position when Parliament meets again on May 8, the government will have 75-73 in any vote, with Anna Burke in the chair and Slipper not voting. This assumes that the crossbenchers (Wilkie, Bandt, Windsor and Oakeshott) stick with the government.

Despite some hysterical commentary over the weekend, this is a political problem for the government, not a constitutional issue. Slipper has not resigned his position. The Standing Orders make it clear that the Speaker can call upon the Deputy Speaker to preside at any time. The Constitution makes it clear that the Speaker does not vote unless there is a tied result, hence he will not participate in voice votes or divisions. The net effect of Slipper standing aside is that the government’s margin in the House has slipped from three to two, provided the four crossbenchers support the government.

The independent member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, yesterday called upon Slipper to stand aside. Wilkie said today that Slipper has now done the right thing. This suggests that the government is unlikely to encounter any difficulties with the crossbenchers at this stage. As always, their continuing support remains crucial. In January, Wilkie withdrew his support for the government because it reneged on its agreement with him over poker machine reform. This means that with Anna Burke in the Speaker’s chair, the government only has 74 committed votes on motions of supply or confidence. A 74-74 tie would mean that Burke would have to make a casting vote to save the government.

The political situation regarding Slipper is entirely of the government’s own making. Slipper’s reputation is well established. He ‘ratted’ on his own party to become Speaker. The government is now suffering the odium of its decision to elevate Slipper in order to shore up its numbers in the lower house. As the old saying has it, if you lie down with dogs, you’re likely to get up with fleas.

Electorally, the Slipper fiasco will most likely confirm perceptions of political chicanery, ongoing crisis and instability. The events of this weekend do not necessarily threaten the government’s parliamentary survival but the pressure on the government has been ramped up a notch or two. Gillard padded her majority by enticing Slipper to leave the coalition but now she may end up back where she started, except that she will be tied to a tainted Slipper and facing an aggrieved Wilkie. And all this whilst the dogs are barking for Craig Thomson. Reap what you sow.

TONY ABBOTT: The Speaker of the House of Representatives has stepped aside until very grave allegations against him can be resolved. There are allegations of sexual harassment and there are also allegations of a criminal nature, of the fraudulent misuse of Commonwealth entitlements.

It’s good that the Speaker has stepped aside until these matters can be resolved but plainly, this is Peter Slipper’s doing, this is no doing of the Prime Minister. As late as this morning the Deputy Prime Minister himself was insisting that there was no reason for Mr Slipper to stand aside and in fact the Speaker must not step aside. [Read more…]

Allegations of sexual harassment and misuse of Cabcharge vouchers have been levelled at House of Representatives Speaker Peter Slipper by a former employee, James Ashby.

The allegations have appeared in today’s editions of New Limited newspapers around the country.

This is how the Daily Telegraph reported an extract of the sexual harassment claim lodged in the Federal Court against Peter Slipper.

Wednesday January 4 2012: James Ashby and Peter Slipper were in Slipper’s flat after work. Slipper asks applicant: "Can you massage my neck". Ashby says words to the effect of "yeah righto" as "he did not know what other response to give as he was brand new to him job and he was being asked by his employer’.

Thursday, January 5: Ashby was getting ready for work, when Slipper says: "You’re a strange one". The following conversation then took place in words to the effect of: Slipper: "You’re a weird because you shower with the door shut".

At the 2010 election, Schultz polled 53.56% of the primary vote, an increase of 12.96%. After distribution of preferences, he won with 58.72% of the two-party-preferred vote, an increase of 3.37%.

Text of statement from Alby Schultz

As 2012 is the commencement of my 25th year in State and Federal politics as the elected Liberal Member representing the Liberal Party of Australia (NSW Div) I have advised the New South Wales State Director Mr Mark Neeham that I will not be contesting the next election. The time is right for me to move on and allow the Liberal brand to be maintained in Hume by a capable committed Liberal. [Read more…]

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Harry Jenkins, came close to resigning today.

The possibilities that could have flowed from his resignation are intriguing to consider.

What happened?

In the course of a raucous and disputatious Question Time, Jenkins warned and then named Liberal member Bob Baldwin for “continuing to interject after having been warned by the Chair”. “Naming” by the Speaker is the precursor to a motion to suspend the member from the service of the House.

The government’s Leader of the House, Anthony Albanese, accordingly rose and moved the motion to suspend Baldwin for 24 hours. [Read more…]

A beaming Julia Gillard, flanked by her grinning deputy, Wayne Swan, has expressed her desire to get on with the job now that the rural independents have supported her leadership of a minority Labor government.

Gillard and Swan appeared before the media at 4.40pm, one hour after the independents announced their decision.

Listen to the victory press conference by Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan

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